Tag: CFL

I wanted to create a design that could be used for the division’s website, social media and could also be inserted into our division newsletter that’s emailed and printed for distribution. I decided to create a PSA on energy saving tips.

After a search, I landed on a light bulb background that would be the base of the design. However, after some feedback I received, the light bulb and the CFL bulb in the design were conflicting messages so I opted to change the background of the design to a CFL bulb. This didn’t change the background dramatically as it was still an overall dark-colored scheme.

Speaking of CFL, there were notes from two of my group members to define or change it as it didn’t explain what a CFL was. I changed it with a little trouble of fitting in all the text but I think I made it work by reducing the font size a smidge.

As for the three smaller pictures – I took those myself. I tried to use a neutral background to not take away from the object itself. The power strip photo initially had a different background that wasn’t black like the other two. A group mate suggested I change it to match the other two and it was a great note to take.

The black backgrounds were different hues of black so I had to go into each photo and with the magnetic lasso tool, outline the image to select the inverse and color it black. Then reinserted the new photos back into the design canvas. With the change, all three photos are blended now with the black in the background.

In my draft design, I had square borders around each photo. Since now they all have black backgrounds and the entire design with the new light bulb picture was black it made sense to get rid of the borders and have them free standing in black. I think it looks a lot cleaner this way.

Working on the Gestalt Theory of proximity – I grouped all three photos together on the right-hand side of the canvas. I think with the border gone now it still appears to have grouped together without having lines and borders to show for it.

The text list next to the photos were at first a san serif font (the same as the title on the bottom) but after some feedback and self-critique I changed it to serif font. And now that the background was black, I played around with shadows (since the light bulb was lit) and put in a drop shadow on the list text- giving it a little glow.

Another suggestion was to add a “point-to” reference like a URL or even a logo. I opted for a URL to find out more. I made this text smaller and colored white so it feels different from the rest of the list. I had trouble figuring out where to place it but settled with underneath the light bulb toward the bottom left.

In terms of the title, it just worked out to put it on the bottom. I had all this space with the background image and with the placement of the light bulb it seemed to make aesthetically more sense to place on the bottom instead of the top. I used a ruler guide (again, from what I learned from the Layer Masks tutorial) so that I could snap a perfect rectangle on the bottom to create a filled box with a lot of opacity. That rule tip really came in hand for this one. There were no edits that were made on this section compared to the draft version.

When comparing the draft version and this final version, I think there were a lot of great improvements that were made thanks to my group members’ input. I hope this design could be made useful at my place of work.